Nolan RICHARDS Obituary

RICHARDS, Nolan Earle Ph. D. Nolan Richards died Friday June 27, 2025, at home as he had wished, in the loving care of his family and friends and hospice team. He was welcomed to the world by his parents Sydney George and Esta Richards on October 27, 1930, in Kaitaia, New Zealand. Nolan grew up in the rural Far North, on his family's dairy farm on Unahi Road in Awanui during the Depression and WW II years. There he learned and subsequently lived values instilled by his Carr and Richards forebears and by formative experiences on farms, fields and nearby waters: faith in God, focus on family, respect for all peoples, richness of sharing, importance of education and life-long learning, stewardship of the earth, joy of curiosity, love of the outdoors, and appreciation of food. Most of all he strove to be a responsive and responsible citizen of the world, contributing to society in any and every way he could. Nolan went to the University of Auckland where, supported by scholarships, he earned a B.Sc. in 1951, a M.Sc. (first class honors) in 1952 and a Ph.D. (physical chemistry) in 1956. He continued his pioneering research on properties of molten salts at the University of Pennsylvania from 1954 to 1956. As a Nuffield Research Fellow, he conducted further post -doctoral research at Imperial College in London. Nolan married Helen Mackenzie in 1954 and they immigrated to Florence, Alabama in 1957 joining the Reduction Research Division of Reynolds Metal Company where he conducted research relevant to the extraction, processing, recycling of aluminum and to the environmental impacts of aluminum production. Although he retired as the Manager of the Laboratory in 1993 Nolan worked another 12 years consulting and teaching. He spent delightful summers in Trondheim, Norway as an invited instructor at the International School of Aluminum. He also served as visiting professor at the Norwegian Institute of Technology and at the University of Auckland. He was a Fellow of the New Zealand Institute of Chemistry, a member of the Electrochemical Society, the American Chemical Society and the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgic Engineers. Over his career in research and development, Nolan authored or co- authored 65 technical papers and held 18 patents. Nolan was a lifelong Rotarian and was a Paul Harris Fellow involved in Youth and Group Study Exchanges. He founded the Muscle Shoals Sailing Club in 1961 and co-authored the Portsmouth Yardstick, a data-based handicapping system that was adopted by US Sailing in 1974. With Helen, Nolan campaigned their beloved Day Sailer, Hinemoa, in local, regional and national regattas. At the fantastically fit age of 93, Nolan won his last race at Day Sailer North Americans with his son, Bruce. Deeply grateful for the free education he received in New Zealand, Nolan established the Nolan Richards Scholarship Fund in 2006. That scholarship supports a graduate of Kaitaia College each year through four years of university study in a field of science. He formed a special bond with those scholars, and they with him. Nolan is preceded in death by his parents, his wife Helen, and his younger brother Beverly. He is survived by his brother Raymond Richards (Nona), son Bruce Richards (Sherrie), daughter Robin Richards, granddaughters Kim Robertson (Derek) and Kiri Richards (Michael Clarke), great grandson Isaac Robertson, nieces and nephews Denise Richards, Tanya Richards, Kirsty Mullany, and Bryce Richards (Andrea Schaefer), Peter Bolam, James Mackenzie (Cynthia), and Tricia Scott.